Fabric finishing machine



Feb. 18, 1941. H. KAsTRlNsKY y FABRIC FINISHING MACHINE Filed Oct. 21.1939 Patented Feb. 18, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in fabric finishing machines, andparticularly to means for maintaining the fabric in evenl conditionwhile being drawn through the machine, the principal object of theinvention being to provide means for positively gripping the fabric atits edges and moving said edges along at the same speed as the centerportion of the fabric.

A` further object of the invention is to provide special means operablein association with the edge-gripping means for treating tucked orshirred fabrics whereby the tucks will be evenly pressed and caused tolie perfectly flat.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as thedescription proceeds.

In the drawing accompanying this specification, I

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an edge-gripping and moving element constructedin accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View on an enlarged scale, takenapproximately on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional side view of one of the individual grippingdevices;

Fig. 4 is a front view of the device shown in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through the take-up rollers of a finishingmachine illustrating the improved tuck-pressing device. i

In finishing machines of the type with which the invention has to do,the generall object isto cause a width of fabric to be unwound from acarrying'roll and drawn through the machine wherein it receives suitabletreatment such as steaming, spreading. pressing, etc., and is finallyWound on to a rotating receiving or take-up roll at the delivery end ofthe machine. The pull necessarily exerted on the fabric to carry itaround the various rollers over which it must pass has a tendency toproduce irregularities in the finished fabric. In other words, thepulling tension cna fabric of substantial width is likely to be unequalat different points in the width. This is particularly noticeable in afabric having transverse stripes, in which, owing to the fact that thefabric offers greater resistance to the pulling force at its side edgesthan at the longitudinal center line, after having passed through themachine the stripes are found to be arc-shaped or bowed. Attempts havebeen made to overcome this defect, by providing means contacting withthe edges of the fabric and urging them forward. Such means have usuallyconsisted of endless chains, one at each edge of the (oi. afs- 57)fabric traveling in the same direction as the fabric and carrying meansin frictional contact with the said fabric edges. However, because ofthe yielding character of the fabric, any device which operates byfrictional contact has a tendency todistort the edges of the fabric byreason of the pressure that must be exerted in order to i create thedesired frictional contact. The present invention, therefore, is animprovement over such frictional devices in that it provides means forpositively gripping the edges of the fabric and moving them along,without exerting any pressure or push on the fabric from edge to edge.`

In the drawing I have shown only one chain unit of the device, it beingunderstood that one such unit is disposed at each side edge of thefabric I, of which only a portion of the width is shown, and that suchunits may be driven from any suitable source of power and may be spacedat different distances apart to accommodate fabrics of different Widths,as is common in practice.

The unit shown in the drawing comprises a rotatable shaft 2 havingsecured thereto a sprocket 3. A non-rotatable shaft 4 is mounted at apredetermined distance from shaft 2 and carries a sprocket 5 mounted forrotation thereon, and a vchain 6 is mounted on said sprockets n Eachgripping device comprises a frame conn sisting of a base plate 'I havinga pair of legs 8 extending 'upward and forward at an acute angle atopposite sides of the plate. A lever 9 is pivoted intermediate its endson a pin I0 in the legs 8 near the free ends thereof, the portion of thelever that extends below the pivot pin being of such length that in onedirection of its pivotal movement it willstrike the top surface of the`plate 1 near the forward end Ithereof so that the lever cannot passbeyond the forward edge of the plate, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.A coil spring I I serves normally to maintain the lever in theplate-engaging position, said spring being mounted on the pivot pin I0and having one end secured in an opening in one of the legs 8 while itsopposite end rests on an enlarged nose I2 formed at the lower end of thelever. One complete device as so constructed is secured to each link ofthe chain 6 by rivets I3 passing through openings formed in the baseplate 1 near its rear end, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2.

A cam disk I4 is secured on the shaft 4 at such height above thesprocket that during the travel of the chain around said sprocket theupper portion of each successive lever 9 will pass around a portion ofthe periphery of the disk. The portion of the disk that overlies whatmay be termed the idle part of the chain, is of such radius that thelevers 9 will pass freely around from said idle part toward the activerun of the chain without contact with the disk.` However, just inadvance of the point where the disk overlies the beginning of the activerun of the chain, the radius of the disk is increased in length to forma camlike portion I4a so that the upper portion of each successive leverwill ride on the periphery of the cam-like portion, thus causing theleverV to swing on its pivot against the tension of the spring Il andraising the nose I2 out of contact with the base plate l, the leverbeingmaintained in that position until it arrives approximately at rightangles to the direction of travel of the fabric I at which time the noseI2 of the lever and the plate 'I are disposed in straddling relation tothe edge of the fabric, as shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 2. Atthis point the periphery of the cam disk is sharply cut away asindicated at I5, so that when the lever arrives at this point itscontact with the periphery of the disk ceases and, under the tension ofthe spring II the nose I2 grips the fabric between it and thebase-plate 1. The edge of the fabric is thus positively held and carriedalong with the chain during its travel from the sprocket 5 towardsprocket 3.

It is of course necessary that the fabric be released from thesuccessive gripping devices as they arrive at the end of the active runof the chain. For this purpose, a disk I6 is secured on the shaft 2 inthe same horizontal plane as the cam disk I4. The diameter of the diskI6 is such that it will trip the levers 9 at any point where it overliesthe chain, so that as the successive levers arrive at a point oppositethe sprocket 3 they are caused to swing away from the plate in the samemanner as above described in connection with the cam I4a, whereby thefabric is released and left free to continue its travel beyond thechain. The levers will remain in open or fabric-releasing position untilthey have passed out of contact with disk I6 on the inactive or idle runof the chain.

In Fig. 5 I have shown in section a device which may be used in afinishing machine either independently of or in combination with thefabricgripping meansy above described. The said device comprises ahorizontal bar II triangular in crosss-ection disposed in the path ofthe fabric I during its passage from the gripping means to the receivingroller I8. The fabric is led over the apex of the bar and is maintainedin close contact with the two upper sides thereof by tension rollers I9and 20 disposed in parallel relation with the bar adjacent to theopposite side edgesof the base of the bar. From the bar I1 the fabricpasses around rollers 2I and 22 and thence to receiving roller I8. Thisdevice is particularly useful in the treatment of tucked or shirredfabrics, since by reason of the passage of the fabric between therollers I9, 2l) and the flat sides of the bar the tucks are caused tolie perfectly fiat and smooth.

It is believed that the operation of the gripping means will be readilyunderstood from the foregoing description. I have deemed it unnecessaryto illustrate a complete fabric-finishing machine herein, since suchmachines are well known in the art. It will be understood that a pair ofcomplete gripping units such as that illus- -trated in Fig. 1 aredisposed at opposite side 'edges of the fabric, and that the chaindriving shafts 2 of both units are driven so as to cause portion of thewidth of the fabric between the leu ver and plate and any transversepull on the fabric will act to increase the gripping action of the leverthereon.

Having thus described my invention, what I u claim is:

The combination with an endless traveling chain, of a grippingdevice'secured to each link of the chain and comprising a base plateextending laterally from said chain, a lever pivoted on said plate anddisposed at an acute angle thereto,saidlever having a rounded noseportion at its lower end, tension means normally maintaining said noseportion of said lever in engagement with the plate, a xed disk disposedin overlying relation to the chain at one end of its runs and having acam portion operative to engage said lever as the chain passes from onerun to the other temporarily to move said lever on its pivot thereby tocarry said nose portion out of engagement with the plate, the peripheryof said disk being cut away at the base of said cam portion to permitreturn of said lever under the action of said tension means and a diskin overlying relation to the chain at the opposite end of its runs, saiddisk being of such diameter as to project into the path of the leverwhereby the lever will engage the periphery of the disk and be swung onits pivot thereby to maintain th-e nose portion out of engagement withthe plate while the chain passes back to the first-mentioned HARRYKASTRINSKY.

